A new self-healing polymer electrolyte that repairs itself within 30 minutes under mild heating, enabling lithium-metal batteries to achieve excellent electrochemical performance. The self-healing polymer electrolyte restores more than 98% of its original ionic conductivity after damage, offering a promising solution to the long-standing interface instability and dendrite growth problems in solid-state batteries.

Azo compounds are widely used in many applications, and photoelectrochemical synthesis provides a promising green route for producing them under mild conditions. Researchers at the University of Science and Technology of China reported that Cs⁺-induced surface reconstruction of BiVO₄ photoanodes can stabilize the electrode interface, accelerate charge transfer, and promote efficient photoelectrochemical synthesis of azobenzene under illumination.

A new framework for cross-scale Raman thermometry enables precise temperature mapping from the micrometer to the single-molecule scale. By mastering non-equilibrium energy statistics and decoupling probe interference, this work paves the way for the intelligent thermal design of next-generation semiconductors at their ultimate physical limits.

Cobalt-free Ni-rich layered cathodes are promising for high-energy lithium-ion batteries because they can reduce material cost and cobalt dependence. However, their practical use is limited by lattice oxygen release and structural degradation under high-voltage operation. Researchers have now developed a synergistic Fe/Zr codoping strategy for LiNi_0.8Mn_0.2O₂ cathodes. Fe helps regulate the local transition-metal–oxygen electronic environment, while Zr acts as a lattice anchor through strong Zr–O bonding. The codoped cathode shows improved cycling stability, rate capability, and lithium-ion transport kinetics.

Researchers have developed a low-cost route to high-performance sodium-ion battery anodes by transforming coal-tar-pitch-derived carbon into a host for ZnO/ZnSe heterostructures. The zinc-aluminum layered double hydroxide template acts both as a structural guide and a pore-forming agent, enabling closely coupled ZnO/ZnSe-carbon interfaces. The resulting anode delivered 637.5 mAh g⁻¹ at 100 mA g⁻¹ and retained 259.7 mAh g⁻¹ after 1000 cycles at 5 A g⁻¹.